UX Researcher

📍 Job Overview

Job Title: UX Researcher

Company: Epi Company

Location: Brussels, Belgium; Paris, France; Madrid, Spain

Job Type: FULL_TIME

Category: User Experience Research / Product Operations

Date Posted: 2026-04-17

Experience Level: 6+ Years

Remote Status: Remote OK (Primary focus on Belgium, with flexibility for France and Spain)

🚀 Role Summary

• Drive user-centered product development by planning, designing, and executing comprehensive mixed-methods research initiatives.

• Transform complex user needs and pain points into clear, actionable insights that directly inform product roadmap and strategic decisions.

• Foster a deep understanding of user behavior and preferences across multiple markets (France, Belgium, Germany initially) to ensure the success of Wero, the European digital wallet.

• Collaborate closely with cross-functional teams including Product, Design, Engineering, and Data to embed research continuity throughout the product lifecycle, from prototyping to pilot and rollout.

📝 Enhancement Note: While the job title is "UX Researcher," the responsibilities and context strongly indicate a role that bridges user experience research with product operations by focusing on the practical application of research insights to drive product strategy and development. The emphasis on influencing roadmap, working across the product lifecycle, and partnering with data teams for experimentation aligns with operations-focused contributions. The remote work arrangement is tied to residency in specific European countries, which is a crucial detail for operations professionals assessing logistical feasibility.

📈 Primary Responsibilities

• Strategic Research Planning: Proactively identify key user research questions, formulate hypotheses, and define success metrics in collaboration with Product, Design, Data, and Engineering stakeholders.

• Mixed-Methods Research Execution: Design and conduct a range of qualitative (e.g., user interviews, usability tests, diary studies) and quantitative (e.g., surveys, analytics reviews) research studies throughout the entire product lifecycle.

• Research Operations Management: Own and manage sampling strategies, participant recruitment, and the ethical handling of sensitive participant data, ensuring strict compliance with GDPR and internal privacy standards.

• Insight Synthesis & Communication: Synthesize findings from diverse research methods, triangulating data from studies, analytics, and experiments to derive robust, evidence-based insights.

• Actionable Recommendation Delivery: Translate complex research findings into clear, compelling, and decision-ready readouts tailored for executive leadership, product managers, designers, and engineers, influencing roadmap and strategy.

• Experimentation Support: Design and support product experiments, such as A/B tests, in partnership with data analysts, interpret results, and recommend data-driven next steps.

• Insights Repository Management: Maintain and evolve the research repository and insights library, ensuring traceability from initial findings to implemented decisions and measurable business outcomes.

• Cross-Functional Collaboration: Nurture mutually respectful and collaborative relationships with internal EPI colleagues and extended partner teams, fostering a shared understanding of user needs.

• Market Expansion Support: Contribute to research efforts that span multiple markets and product squads, providing continuity as Wero expands its reach and features.

📝 Enhancement Note: The responsibilities highlight a proactive and ownership-driven approach, common in operations roles that require driving initiatives forward with minimal direct oversight. The emphasis on "research operations," "insights repository management," and "supporting product experiments" are strong indicators of operations-related tasks that ensure the smooth functioning and continuous improvement of product development processes.

🎓 Skills & Qualifications

Education:

Experience:

• Minimum of 6 years of progressive experience as a UX Researcher within a product-led organization, demonstrating a consistent track record of planning, executing, and delivering impactful research.

• Proven experience in a fast-paced, product-driven environment, successfully balancing research depth with the need for timely insights to support rapid development cycles.

Required Skills:

• Mixed-Methods Research Expertise: Deep proficiency in designing and executing a variety of qualitative (interviews, usability testing, contextual inquiry) and quantitative (surveys, analytics review) research methodologies.

• Usability Research Mastery: Strong background in identifying usability issues, conducting heuristic evaluations, and performing in-depth usability testing to improve user experience.

• Research Platform Proficiency: Advanced proficiency with UserTesting.com or similar platforms for remote usability testing and participant recruitment.

• Data Synthesis & Insight Generation: Ability to rigorously synthesize qualitative and quantitative data, triangulate findings from various sources, and distill complex information into clear, actionable insights.

• Communication & Storytelling: Exceptional ability to translate complex research findings into simple, decision-ready insights for diverse audiences, including executives and technical teams, using compelling narratives.

• Stakeholder Management: Strong capability to influence without direct authority, align cross-functional partners on research objectives and findings, and constructively handle pushback.

• Systems Thinking: Ability to understand and analyze complex systems, identify dependencies, and consider the broader implications of user insights on the entire product ecosystem.

• Proactive Ownership: A proactive, ownership-driven mindset, comfortable navigating ambiguity, making decisions with incomplete information, and taking initiative to drive research forward.

• Fluent English (C1/C2): Professional fluency in written and spoken English is essential for effective communication in this international role.

Preferred Skills:

• Quantitative Research Acumen: A strong background or demonstrable experience in quantitative research methods, statistical analysis, and survey design.

• Analytics & Experimentation: Experience with analytics dashboards and supporting product experiments (e.g., A/B testing), including interpreting results and recommending next steps.

• Research Operations Acumen: Experience in establishing and managing research operations, including participant recruitment, consent management, and maintaining research repositories.

• Additional European Languages: Proficiency in other European languages (e.g., French, German) would be a significant asset for market-specific research.

• Familiarity with Payment Systems: Understanding of the financial services or payments industry can be beneficial.

📝 Enhancement Note: The "70% requirement" threshold suggests a focus on core competencies and a willingness to develop in other areas, which is common for roles that require adaptability and continuous learning, aligning with operations principles. The emphasis on translating business/regulatory requirements into user-centered solutions points to a need for strategic thinking beyond just user advocacy.

📊 Process & Systems Portfolio Requirements

Portfolio Essentials:

• Demonstrated Research Impact: Showcase a portfolio with 3-5 case studies detailing significant UX research projects. Each case study should clearly outline the research problem, your methodological approach, the insights generated, and the tangible impact on product decisions, user experience, or business outcomes.

• Methodological Diversity: Present examples of both qualitative and quantitative research methods employed, highlighting your ability to select the most appropriate tools for specific research questions.

• Insight-to-Action Translation: Clearly articulate how your research insights led to specific product changes, strategic shifts, or improved user workflows. Quantify the impact wherever possible (e.g., improved conversion rates, reduced task completion time, increased user satisfaction scores).

• Cross-Functional Collaboration Examples: Include projects where you collaborated effectively with product managers, designers, engineers, and data analysts, demonstrating your ability to integrate research into the broader product development process.

• Ethical Research Practices: Briefly outline your approach to participant recruitment, consent, and data privacy, especially in relation to GDPR compliance.

Process Documentation:

• Research Planning & Design: Showcase documentation of research plans, including clear objectives, research questions, hypotheses, participant criteria, and methodological choices.

• Data Synthesis & Analysis Frameworks: Provide examples of how you synthesize qualitative and quantitative data, potentially including templates for thematic analysis, affinity mapping summaries, or survey analysis reports.

• Insight Communication & Archiving: Demonstrate how you communicate findings (e.g., presentation decks, reports, workshops) and how insights are documented and made accessible for ongoing use (e.g., contributions to an insights repository).

📝 Enhancement Note: The emphasis on a portfolio with tangible impact and clear process documentation is critical for operations roles that require demonstrating efficiency, effectiveness, and a structured approach to problem-solving. The expectation to show how insights translate to product changes and business outcomes directly aligns with the ROI-driven nature of operations functions.

💵 Compensation & Benefits

Salary Range:

• Given the experience level (6+ years), the multi-market presence (Brussels, Paris, Madrid), and the remote-first nature within specific countries, a competitive salary range is expected. Based on industry benchmarks for senior UX Researchers in Western Europe, the estimated annual gross salary range is:
  • Belgium: €70,000 - €95,000
  • France: €65,000 - €90,000
  • Spain: €60,000 - €85,000

Benefits:

• Remote-First Culture: Opportunity to work remotely from your country of residence within Belgium, France, or Spain.

• Quarterly In-Person Meetings: Budgeted opportunities for in-person collaboration and team building with colleagues across Europe at least once per quarter.

• Comprehensive Health Insurance: Coverage tailored to the country of employment, adhering to local standards.

• Generous Paid Time Off: Competitive vacation days and public holidays, aligned with local regulations.

• Professional Development Budget: Allocation for training, conferences, and resources to support continuous learning in UX research and related fields.

• Technology Stipend/Provision: Support for setting up an effective home office environment.

• Pension Scheme: Contribution to a retirement savings plan as per local employment laws.

• Employee Assistance Program (EAP): Access to confidential counseling and support services.

Working Hours:

• Standard full-time hours, estimated at 40 hours per week.

• The remote-first culture offers flexibility in managing daily schedules, provided core collaboration hours and responsiveness to cross-functional teams are maintained.

📝 Enhancement Note: Salary ranges are estimated based on publicly available data for senior UX Researcher roles in major European cities (Brussels, Paris, Madrid) and adjusted for remote work within these countries. Benefits are extrapolated from typical offerings for remote-first tech companies operating in Europe, with a focus on aspects important to operations professionals such as structured professional development and clear remote work support.

🎯 Team & Company Context

🏢 Company Culture

Industry: Financial Technology (FinTech) / Payments Infrastructure

Company Size: Growing organization, currently around 15 people in the Experience Design team, with the broader EPI initiative involving 16 major banks and acquirers. This indicates a dynamic, evolving environment with significant scale and ambition.

Founded: The European Payments Initiative (EPI) is a nascent, ambitious project aiming to revolutionize European payments. Wero is its flagship digital wallet product. This means the company is in a high-growth, innovation-focused phase.

Team Structure:

• Experience Organisation: The UX Researcher will join a growing 'Experience Organisation' of approximately 15 individuals, encompassing Product Design, UX Research, Content Design, Localization, and Design Operations.

• Reporting Structure: Reports directly to the Head of Experience Design, with a matrixed collaboration structure across multiple European teams and markets.

• Cross-Functional Collaboration: Works closely with Product, Design, Engineering, and Data partners within cross-functional teams, and supports the wider Product organization transversally with another researcher.

Methodology:

• User-Centricity: A core tenet of the company's mission is to change how Europe pays by focusing on user needs for simplicity, seamlessness, and security.

• Agile & Iterative Development: The roadmap (prototyping, pilot, testing, integration, rollout) suggests an agile approach, emphasizing continuous iteration and data-driven decision-making.

• Data-Driven Insights: Research findings and analytics data are critical drivers for product decisions, roadmap prioritization, and strategy formulation.

• Remote-First Collaboration: Embraces remote work with intentional in-person meetings to foster connection and collaboration.

Company Website: https://careers.epicompany.eu

📝 Enhancement Note: The company's mission to "change the way Europe pays" and build a "new, proudly European payment system" signifies a high-impact, transformative role. The "Experience Organisation" structure suggests a dedicated focus on user experience as a strategic differentiator, which is crucial for operations professionals who ensure these experiences are consistently delivered and optimized.

📈 Career & Growth Analysis

Operations Career Level: This role is positioned as a Senior UX Researcher, equivalent to an experienced professional who can operate with significant autonomy. It requires not just research execution but also strategic input, influencing product direction, and contributing to the operationalization of research processes. This level demands a proactive, problem-solving approach, characteristic of senior operations contributors.

Reporting Structure: The researcher reports to the Head of Experience Design, indicating a direct line to leadership within the Experience function. However, the "matrix setup across Europe" and collaboration with cross-functional teams (Product, Design, Engineering, Data) means the role requires navigating complex stakeholder relationships and influencing without direct authority – a key skill in operations.

Operations Impact: The UX Researcher's impact is significant and direct. By providing evidence-based insights, they ensure that Wero's features and user flows are intuitive, effective, and meet the needs of a diverse European user base. This directly influences product adoption, user satisfaction, and ultimately, the success of EPI's mission to transform European payments. The role is instrumental in reducing development risks by validating assumptions early and often.

Growth Opportunities:

• Research Specialization & Leadership: Opportunity to deepen expertise in specific research methodologies (e.g., advanced quantitative analysis, generative research) or develop into a lead researcher for specific product domains or markets.

• Process Improvement & Design Operations: Contribute to shaping and improving research processes, tools, and best practices within the Experience Organisation, potentially moving towards a Design Operations role focused on research efficiency and scalability.

• Product Strategy Influence: Grow into a more strategic partner role, deeply influencing product strategy and roadmap prioritization based on continuous user understanding.

• Cross-Market Expertise: Develop deep understanding of user behaviors and regulatory nuances across multiple European countries, becoming a key asset for international product expansion.

• Mentorship: Opportunity to mentor junior researchers or designers, sharing expertise and best practices.

📝 Enhancement Note: The growth opportunities highlight a potential career path within operations, moving from execution to process ownership, strategic influence, and leadership within the product development lifecycle. The emphasis on navigating ambiguity and influencing stakeholders aligns with the challenges and rewards of senior operations roles.

🌐 Work Environment

Office Type: Remote-first, with a strong emphasis on digital collaboration tools. The company intentionally schedules in-person meetings at least quarterly to foster team cohesion and strategic alignment. This hybrid approach aims to balance the flexibility of remote work with the benefits of face-to-face interaction.

Office Location(s): While the role is remote, the requirement to be based in Belgium, France, or Spain implies that the company may have a presence or operational focus in these countries, potentially for legal, HR, or future office spaces. The quarterly in-person meetings will likely occur at a central EPI hub or rotate between key locations.

Workspace Context:

• Digital Collaboration Hub: Expect extensive use of Slack for real-time communication, Miro for collaborative ideation and workshops, and Confluence/Jira for project management and documentation.

• Dedicated Research Tools: Access to specialized tools like UserTesting for remote research, survey platforms, and an insights repository platform, which are crucial for efficient operations.

• Cross-Functional Interaction: Frequent opportunities to connect with product managers, designers, engineers, and data analysts in virtual team meetings, brainstorming sessions, and project reviews.

Work Schedule:

• The primary work schedule will be dictated by the 40-hour work week, but the remote-first nature allows for flexibility in structuring the day.

• Key considerations will be aligning with core business hours for cross-functional collaboration and ensuring availability for scheduled research sessions and team meetings across different European time zones.

📝 Enhancement Note: The remote-first model with intentional in-person touchpoints is a deliberate operational strategy to optimize team dynamics and productivity. Understanding the reliance on digital tools and structured communication is key for operations professionals.

📄 Application & Portfolio Review Process

Interview Process:

• Recruiter Call (45 min): Initial screening to assess general fit, motivation, and alignment with the company's mission and remote-first culture. Be prepared to discuss your career trajectory and why EPI.

• Portfolio Review + Skills Interview (60 min): This is a critical stage. You will present key case studies from your portfolio, demonstrating your research process, methodologies, insights, and impact. Expect in-depth questions about your decision-making, problem-solving approach, and how you handled challenges. Experts in UX Research and potentially Product Management will assess your technical and strategic capabilities.

• Culture Interview (60 min): Focuses on assessing your alignment with EPI's values, collaboration style, and ability to thrive in a dynamic, remote, and cross-functional environment. Questions will probe your adaptability, ownership, and how you navigate ambiguity and stakeholder relationships.

Portfolio Review Tips:

• Structure Your Narrative: For each case study, follow a clear story arc: the problem/opportunity, your research approach (why you chose certain methods), key findings, how you translated insights into recommendations, and the resulting impact (quantified if possible).

• Highlight Operations Alignment: Emphasize how your research contributed to efficient product development, risk mitigation, or strategic alignment. Showcase instances where you streamlined research processes or helped teams make faster, better decisions.

• Showcase Impact & Metrics: Wherever possible, demonstrate the tangible outcomes of your research. This could include improvements in user satisfaction, task completion rates, adoption metrics, or reduction in development rework.

• Be Prepared for Deep Dives: Anticipate detailed questions about your methodology, decision-making process, and how you handled challenging stakeholders or ambiguous situations.

• Tailor to EPI: Briefly research EPI, Wero, and the European payments landscape to show genuine interest and tailor your examples to their context.

Challenge Preparation:

• While no specific "challenge" is detailed, expect the skills interview to function as a practical assessment. Be ready to discuss hypothetical research scenarios relevant to a digital wallet or payment system, or to elaborate on how you would approach a specific user problem outlined by the interviewer.

• Focus on articulating your process for defining research questions, selecting methodologies, and synthesizing findings under time constraints.

📝 Enhancement Note: The interview process is structured to assess not only research skills but also strategic thinking, communication, and cultural fit, which are all vital for operations roles. The emphasis on portfolio review and demonstrating impact is directly aligned with operations' need to show value and efficiency.

🛠 Tools & Technology Stack

Primary Tools:

• UserTesting: Advanced proficiency is a stated requirement for conducting remote usability tests and gathering user feedback efficiently.

• Slack: Essential for real-time communication, team collaboration, and quick information dissemination within a remote-first environment.

• Miro: Key for collaborative ideation, workshop facilitation, journey mapping, and affinity diagramming in a virtual setting.

• Microsoft Suite / Google Workspace: Standard office productivity tools for document creation, presentations, and data management.

• Confluence & Jira: Used for project management, documentation, tracking research tasks, and maintaining a knowledge base.

Analytics & Reporting:

• Analytics Dashboards: Familiarity with using data dashboards (specific tools not named, but likely common ones like Google Analytics, Amplitude, Mixpanel) to understand user behavior, track key metrics, and inform research questions.

• Survey Tooling: Proficiency with platforms like SurveyMonkey, Typeform, or Qualtrics for designing and deploying quantitative surveys.

CRM & Automation:

• While not a direct CRM role, understanding how user data integrates into broader systems and how research findings can inform customer journeys is beneficial.

• Insights Repository Platform: Experience with tools or methodologies for organizing, storing, and retrieving research findings to build a collective knowledge base.

• Experimentation Tools: Familiarity with platforms used for A/B testing and other product experiments is a plus, enabling collaboration with data teams.

📝 Enhancement Note: The technology stack emphasizes tools crucial for remote collaboration, efficient research execution, and data analysis, which are foundational to effective operations. Proficiency in these tools indicates an ability to integrate seamlessly into the company's workflow and contribute to operational efficiency.

👥 Team Culture & Values

Operations Values:

• User-Centricity & Empathy: A deep-seated belief in understanding and advocating for the user, ensuring their needs are at the forefront of product development. This translates to rigorous research and a commitment to solving real user problems.

• Data-Driven Decision Making: A commitment to grounding decisions in evidence, whether from qualitative insights, quantitative data, or experimentation results. This fosters a culture of accountability and continuous improvement.

• Collaboration & Partnership: A strong emphasis on working together across functions (Product, Design, Engineering, Data) to achieve shared goals. This involves open communication, active listening, and building consensus.

• Ownership & Accountability: Encouraging individuals to take initiative, drive projects forward, and be accountable for outcomes, even in the face of ambiguity. This empowers team members to make significant contributions.

• Efficiency & Scalability: A focus on developing robust processes and leveraging tools that enable the team to work effectively and scale their efforts as the product and organization grow.

Collaboration Style:

• Cross-Functional Integration: Active participation in cross-functional teams, bridging the gap between user needs and technical/business requirements. This involves regular syncs, joint planning sessions, and shared problem-solving.

• Open Feedback Culture: Encouraging constructive feedback on research plans, findings, and methodologies to ensure the highest quality of work and continuous learning.

• Knowledge Sharing: A proactive approach to sharing insights, learnings, and best practices through research readouts, internal documentation, and informal discussions to build collective understanding.

📝 Enhancement Note: The described values and collaboration style emphasize a proactive, collaborative, and results-oriented environment, which is highly desirable for operations professionals who thrive on process optimization and cross-functional alignment.

⚡ Challenges & Growth Opportunities

Challenges:

• Navigating Ambiguity & Rapid Growth: EPI is a new initiative with ambitious goals. The UX Researcher will need to thrive in an environment where processes are still being defined and the product is evolving rapidly, requiring adaptability and comfort with uncertainty.

• Balancing Depth and Speed: The need to deliver timely, actionable insights for a fast-paced product roadmap while maintaining research rigor can be a significant challenge. This requires excellent prioritization and methodological agility.

• Influencing Without Authority: Working across multiple teams and stakeholders necessitates strong persuasion and negotiation skills to ensure research findings are understood and acted upon.

• Multi-Market Complexity: Conducting research across different European countries involves understanding diverse user behaviors, cultural nuances, regulatory landscapes (like GDPR), and potentially language barriers.

• Establishing Research Operations: Contributing to the development and refinement of research processes, tools, and a shared insights repository for a growing organization.

Learning & Development Opportunities:

• Advanced Research Techniques: Opportunity to gain deeper expertise in quantitative research, experimental design, or specific qualitative methods through training and practical application.

• Product Strategy & Operations: Develop a stronger understanding of product strategy, roadmap prioritization, and the operational aspects of bringing a new financial product to market.

• Cross-Cultural Research Expertise: Build significant experience in conducting user research across diverse European markets.

• Mentorship & Leadership: Contribute to the growth of the research function by mentoring junior team members or leading research initiatives for key product areas.

• Industry Exposure: Gain deep insights into the evolving landscape of digital payments and FinTech from a user experience perspective.

📝 Enhancement Note: Identifying these challenges and framing them as opportunities for growth is a key aspect of preparing for an operations-focused role. It demonstrates foresight and a proactive approach to problem-solving.

💡 Interview Preparation

Strategy Questions:

• "Describe a time you had to influence a product roadmap with research insights. What was your approach, and what was the outcome?" (Focus on your process for synthesizing and communicating findings to drive strategic decisions.)

• "How would you approach researching user needs for a new feature within a digital wallet, considering users in France, Belgium, and Germany?" (Demonstrate your ability to tailor methodologies for multi-market research and define clear research questions.)

Company & Culture Questions:

• "What interests you most about EPI's mission to change European payments, and how do you see UX research contributing to that?" (Showcase your understanding of the company's vision and your role in it.)

• "Describe your experience working in a remote-first or distributed team environment. What strategies do you use to stay connected and collaborate effectively?" (Prepare examples of your remote work habits and communication strategies.)

Portfolio Presentation Strategy:

• Focus on Impact: Select case studies that clearly demonstrate the tangible results of your research. Quantify outcomes wherever possible (e.g., improved key metrics, cost savings, increased adoption).

• Explain Your 'Why': For each methodological choice, articulate the rationale behind it. Why did you choose interviews over surveys, or usability testing over analytics review?

• Showcase Problem-Solving: Be ready to discuss challenges encountered during research (e.g., recruitment difficulties, unexpected findings, stakeholder resistance) and how you overcame them.

• Structure for Clarity: Use a consistent structure for each case study: Problem -> Approach -> Findings -> Recommendations -> Impact. Keep slides clean and focused on key takeaways.

• Interactive Elements: If possible, consider a brief live demo of a tool you used extensively or a visual representation of your synthesized findings to make your presentation more engaging.

📝 Enhancement Note: The interview preparation advice is tailored to assess operational readiness, strategic thinking, and the ability to translate research into actionable business outcomes, aligning with the core competencies expected in operations roles.

📌 Application Steps

To apply for this UX Researcher position:

• Submit your application through the provided link on the Epi Company careers page.

• Tailor Your Resume: Highlight experience and skills directly relevant to the job description, emphasizing your 6+ years of UX research experience, mixed-methods proficiency, and experience with tools like UserTesting. Use keywords from the job posting naturally.

• Curate Your Portfolio: Select 3-5 of your strongest case studies that best showcase your research impact, methodological range, and ability to translate insights into actionable product improvements. Ensure each case study clearly articulates the problem, your approach, findings, recommendations, and quantifiable results.

• Prepare Your Presentation: Practice presenting your portfolio case studies, focusing on clear storytelling, demonstrating your thought process, and highlighting how your research drove business outcomes. Be ready to answer in-depth questions about your methodology and decision-making.

• Research EPI: Familiarize yourself with EPI's mission, the Wero digital wallet, and the European payments landscape. Understand their remote-first culture and values to articulate your fit during interviews.

⚠️ Important Notice: This enhanced job description includes AI-generated insights and operations industry-standard assumptions. All details should be verified directly with the hiring organization before making application decisions.